XXVI. HEAVEN SHALL BURN

Órfhlaith fell to her knees, speechless as Enyo sobbed quietly beside her. Donough punched a nearby pillar, leaving a colossal fist shaped dent in the stone before he turned away to hide his grief. His dreaded Mohawk fell over his eyes, and he brushed it away, revealing a gash at the hairline. Temple staff lay slain, dismembered and partially eaten around the altar of the mighty phoenix. Blood, entrails and partially digested remains stained and desecrated the holy site atop the mountain. The eternal flame extinguished; a heavy odor of ammonia left in its place, and the cradle was bare. The Great Phoenix egg was gone.

“By the flames of Rhode…” Órfhlaith’s weapon clattered to the floor beside her.

“What does this mean?” Enyo whimpered.

Órfhlaith pitied the young girl, for all her bark, she was still just a child, a child whose life had been effectively cut short. For when the phoenix arrived, all of Rhode would return to the flowing magma from whence it came. Her children would return to the elements and Silex would be lost to the hands of this madman.

“Ye all should take the opportunity to flee.”

Órfhlaith rose and spun, as Io approached from the shadows, dressed in the garb of the high priestess, an office she held before her marriage to Eth. Blood red rubies set in silver, hung from long earrings and upon the bangles that adorned her wrists and ankles. She wore a silver circlet with two smoking incense sticks sticking out from both sides. She was prepared for a ceremony.

“Tell me, how fares my husband?” She spoke with serenity and a calmness unbefitting the situation.

Órfhlaith envied her in that regard.

“Not well sister. He was wounded by one of the sorcerer’s demons.” Órfhlaith stepped aside, allowing Io to approach her husband, still unconscious upon the stretcher.

“Ah, always the fool and hothead he was.” she smiled sadly, the tears refused to be dammed, flowing down her tranquil face. “What does that say ’bout me fer fallin’ for ’im then?”

“We must flee, naught more can be done here I’m afraid.” Órfhlaith’s voice broke despite her best efforts to control it.

Io shook her head sadly, her bejeweled circlet shimmering in the torchlight. “Nae, I have an obligation. I am the only one left ye see.”

“Lady Io…” Enyo began sadly, her youth evident and fear written upon her face.

Órfhlaith found it hard to believe such a look could find purchase in a woman of her character. “What of yer husband? Ye are with child. What can ye hope to accomplish?”

“We need to go. Now.” Donough interrupted as the mountain shook violently.

Io leaned over and kissed her husband on the lips, caressing his cheek before forcing herself to rise. “Please, take care o’ him Órfhlaith; ye know how he gets sometimes.”

“Aye. And yerself? What’ll ye be doin’ then?”

Io closed her eyes and sighed deeply. “I shall serve as vessel for the mountains fury. When the Great Phoenix arrives, I shall be here to absorb the flames of wrath.”

“…Ye of all people know the consequences.”

“Aye. I do. Therefore, I shall be the one to remain.” Io smiled serenely. “I shall be able to see my brothers again at least. Kielan never could get along without me.”

“Let’s go!” Donough bellowed as the building started to collapse with the mountains constant shaking.

“Go Órfhlaith.” Io squeezed her hand, tears threatening to spill in spite of her efforts to retain them. “And… tell Eth, tell my husband I regret nothing, and gladly sacrificed myself in the name of love.”

“I will. I shall light a torch to carry yer flame for eternity Io.”

Io smiled weakly, turning to face the empty altar as the survivors fled the temple. The wall collapsed before her, laying bare the fiery mouth of the mountain as it sent forth its rage and molten bile. Io drew a ring of fire on the ground around her, kneeling in prayer as tendrils of flame emanated from her, creating a great seal in three dimensions around her. She began to chant low and sweetly the Hymn of the Undying. An ancient rite in reverence to the immortal phoenix, calling it home to roost and give way to its decedent from the ashes.

* * *

Clarissa reached Maleah as Taryn mounted Cookie, in an attempt to seek out a healer. Her wounds were substantial; it was a wonder the woman was still conscious.

“Where the hell ’ave you been pinkie?” Taryn scolded as she dismounted the grateful beast. “I ’ad ta sit through ’er bitchin this whole bloody time I did! And if I hear one more word about that confounded horse o’ hers…”

Despite her complaints, it was obvious by her look and refusal to leave Maleah’s side that the woman was greatly concerned, flinching when Maleah began to vomit blood during the healing.

“Oi! Pinkie! What the ’ell ar’ya doin’ to her!”

“She ’as severe internal bleeding, now step back!” Clarissa snapped as she drew upon the source of light, while Séverin mopped her forehead of perspiration. “I need all my concentration.”

Alice and Fiora ran over to them, shouting and waving their hands over their heads as Aichlan carried Ashe with Ransom, Emarosa and Maleah’s unit close behind.

“Where have you all been?” Séverin asked as he stood, clutching his fractured ribs, doubling over in agony. “Damn!”

“Do you need me to—?” Clarissa began.

“No! No. Please, just make sure my sister survives.” He said before turning away and spraying blood and phlegm as he was overcome by a fit of spastic coughing.

Aichlan gently set Ashe down; resting her head on a bundled cloak as Emarosa began her healing.

“Séverin, are you well?” Aichlan asked as he limped over.

In their haste, he had only time for Emarosa to mend his arm and stop the bleeding in the back of his skull. While not fully healed, it was now at least in relatively one piece.

“Brilliant. What’s this? Why the sudden change of opinion?” he asked, referring to the Xanavien unit behind him.

“You have Ransom and Emma to thank for that. They traveled up to the city with Órfhlaith and the others to aid in the search down here.” The mountain exploded violently behind them as Aichlan finished.

“How is Maleah? When I left, she was ready to ride out in search of you.”

“She’s stable, but dzere is only so much I can do ’ere and now.” Clarissa replied. “I would require several sessions with ’er.”

“An impossibility at this point.” Séverin said a bit remorsefully. “You can barely do what you do now Clarissa. I wouldn’t want for you to burn out as they say.”

“I appreciate your concern, but I ’ave an obligation. My reserves are quite sufficient.”

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Even as she spoke, it was obvious her labored words and breathing. Her complexion was pale, and a sheen of perspiration was upon her face. Clerics generally draw their power from the sun, and Aichlan could not remember the last time he saw it while upon the mountain.

“More of your lil’ cult should be here shortly sister.” Ransom added as he lit a cigarette. “Where’s Eth and Kielan?”

“We haven’t seen Eth and Kielan, Kielan is dead.”

None could comprehend or believe what Fiora had just relayed.

“He was felled and…” she took a deep breath, letting it out in a jagged sigh before continuing. “He was felled and eaten by the forces of dusk. I could do nothing to stop them. I’m… I’m sorry…”

“It wasn’t your fault Fiora. It was Osric’s doing.” Alice said reassuringly, as she rubbed Fiora’s back.

“But if I could stand there and watch him die, I should have been able to do something to save him.” Fiora’s tear stained face let forth another deluge of sorrow as she buried her face in Alice’s cloak.

“It was no one’s fault but the madman who brought those fell beasts here Fiora. No one will hold you responsible.”

Aichlan tried to be as reassuring as he could, but he still did not fully grasp the fact that Kielan was gone, that their group would be permanently one-member short. Their grief and mourning halted suddenly as a great cry pierced the heavens.

“What the hell was that?” Ransom yelled, ducking from the threat of skyward attack.

The cry repeated, closer this time. It was a high-pitched shriek like that of a falcon released from its falconer with the scent of prey filling its breast. A fiery gust broke through the ash cloud above them as the radiant light of a thousand suns pierced the veil of gloom and despair that hung above the valley. The fury of Rhode had reached its apex as the mountain sent forth her molten life’s blood with a constant tremor and rumbling of the basin. Fissures broke out in the ground around them as geysers spat forth liquid rock and stone from the planet’s heart as a burst artery would gush blood or a spring bubbles with mineral rich water.

“We need to get out of dzis valley!” Clarissa cried frantically as she looked to the heavens in search of their new menace.

A great bird of immense proportions descended from the ash cloud with a flurry of falling embers and crackling static lightning. It bore the slender neck of a heron and the trailing tail feathers of a peacock shimmering with every color of the rainbow as the heat radiated from the massive avian. It flapped its flaming wings once and let out another cry to pierce the heavens as it slowly descended to its perch atop the mountain. Its body was the size of a yacht and its wings were at least thrice as wide as that.

“The Phoenix comes…” Ashe muttered as she slipped back into consciousness.

“We need to go.” Aichlan said as he stared at the great bird overhead, descending onto the erupting mountain. “We need to go now.”

Taryn lifted Maleah to her feet and started to half drag; half carry her away. “Bloody ’ell then! Stop talkin’ about it an’ get a fuckin’ move on!”

Clarissa rose hastily, nearly falling over as she kicked off her slippers and made a mad dash away from the mountain. Aichlan lifted Ashe and carried her in his arms as Séverin and Ransom hobbled after him.

“Emma!” Aichlan called, searching for the cleric amidst the confusion of Maleah’s Xanavien soldiers and the exploding soil and stone around them.

Aichlan saw her struggling to avoid being trampled as the soldiers blindly spurred their horses in an attempt to egress.

“You!” Aichlan screamed at a nearby soldier. “Help her!” he said pointing frantically as he tried to make his way towards her.

The soldier knew he was being addressed but could not understand Aes Sidhean or did not want to risk his own life for hers.

“Josef! Save the nun!” Maleah hollered over her shoulder in Xanavien.

The soldier finally got the point as he circled back and scooped up Emma. The phoenix landed atop the mountain behind them as they made their way around fissures and erupting land. It let out a piercing cry as it spread its wings and fanned its tail. Aichlan stumbled, as he looked back at the creature, awestruck by its brilliance and beauty.

“Aichlan!” Emarosa screamed behind him, a fissure had split the ground, separating her and several of the soldiers from the rest of the fleeing party.

“Light be scorned!” Aichlan swore in rage as he was torn between seeking safety for Ashe and rescuing his close friend and ally of Elysia.

The phoenix flapped its wings once and ruffled its feathers as if for sleep, letting a low, mournful song resonate through the valley. It shed its plumage as it buried its head under its wing and began to glow. Aichlan felt as if the weight of the world were lifted from him as he stared at the blinding glow as the flames upon the bird’s wings intensified and eventually consumed its entire being in a great conflagration. There was no sound as Emarosa cried out, a look of horror upon her face. He looked down to where Ashe should be cradled in his arms, but instead found her clinging to the edge of a crevasse as he hovered overhead. She looked up with fear and confusion as the molten river surged and swelled beneath her.

He reached down to lift her up, but his own hands went right through her as if she were made of air, he looked up and called for help, but found that he had no voice. The phoenix glowed more brilliantly, casting rainbows in the lights glare before erupting in a great white flash as a star, if it were to explode.

* * *

Aichlan opened his eyes, expecting to see the expanse of ruin and fire erupting from the ground, but instead, saw dazzling summer sunlight filtering past a tiny garden set in the windowsill. He looked around in confusion; he sat at a great oak table set in the kitchen of his childhood home in Westfaire. The curtains his mother had sewn hung above the sink, overlooking the alley that ran parallel their townhome. A pot steamed above an open flame in the hearth as the smell of hare and vegetables wafted up from the stove.

“What the hell?”

“You are reckless Aichlan.”

He spun around to find the source of the voice, but he was alone in the room.

“Did you hear what I said?” the voice repeated.

He looked down before him to see a young boy with black skin and golden hair in a toga looking up at him with a blank expression. His irises were iridescent gold against pools of inky black, holding the gravitas and appearance of an eclipsed sun against the starry void. Aichlan leapt back in surprise, eliciting no response from the child.

“Your negative response to your lover’s bedchamber was…unexpected, so I opted to try another approach.”

“Who are you?” Aichlan stepped back hesitantly, his hand on sword, as he took in the familiar yet bewildering setting. “How did I get here?”

“I suppose…” the child silently tracked Aichlan with eyes that held infinity. “That your kind liken me a god. An idea I neither dispute nor encourage. That said, I am rather partial to the characterization.”

Aichlan cocked his head and met the child’s vacant gaze with an incredulous stare. “Listen kid, I don’t have time for this shit, did Garrick put you up to this?”

“Garrick?” the child attempted to hide his laugher behind his hand. “You believe him to be behind this? Reckless and a fool I see.”

Aichlan rolled his eyes and drew his sword, placing it to the boy’s throat. “You have but one chance to return me to where I’ve come from or we die in this illusion together, with you going first.”

The boy smiled and placed his hand on Aichlan’s sword. “Would you kill a child?”

“Yes, if I had too, but you’re no child. Where the hell have you taken me?”

“The illusion is of your own design. I brought you here because you were about to die, again, and for a woman whose existence is inconsequential.”

“The hell it is! And who are you to say anyhow?”

“As I have said, I am a god.”

“Well, I don’t give a fuck who you are,” Aichlan pressed the blade against the child’s throat, “I’m not just going to let her, or any of the others die so long as I draw breath and have a mind to act.”

The boy merely stared up at him, not moving or protesting further. After several tense moments, Aichlan lowered his weapon and made his way towards the window, looking down on the empty alley below.

“And I don’t believe for a second that you’re an Eloi.”

“I never said that I was, merely that I was a god. It was you who made that connection proving that you do in fact—”

“Don’t give me that semantics bullshit boy!” Aichlan opened the unsettlingly familiar pantry and slammed it shut. “I’ve been alive far longer than I should and have seen a lot of insane shit within the last few hours alone that tells me there are no gods! And even if there were, I would sooner slit their throats than serve them.”

“Be that as it may you have a task to complete. You gave your word…”

“I know what I bloody did! I don’ need some lil’ shit repeatin’ it! I know what my task is, and I’ll go about it in my own way!”

“Your way is, ineffective.”

“Then you can find someone else to do it then.”

“Do you realize the scope of what has been set in motion? It goes beyond the mortal realm’s petty politics, beyond even that fool Osric’s delusions of doing away with some imagined tyranny. If that woman has her way—”

Aichlan held up his hand. “Woman? What woman?”

“I misspoke, your concept of time and my own perception of that peculiarity caused me to recall something that is in your distant past.” The hint of anxiety crossed the child’s otherwise placid face. “Suffice to say, Osric must be stopped at all costs.”

Aichlan laughed aloud and sheathed his sword. He did not buy the child’s excuse, but neither did he have the will to engage them further.

“Then it looks like you’re stuck with me then, don’t it?”

The child appeared to pout, but quickly returned to his placid expression. “Our desire to save this world is not so great that we would sacrifice our own, nor are we willing to continue interfering as such. You can expect no more chances Aichlan.”

Aichlan stared into the child god’s vast, vacant eyes hoping to have a glimpse into eternity or a means to disprove him for the charlatan he thought the boy was, but instead he saw the bleakness of his fate. He nodded and turned away, unable to bear the weight the child’s stare placed upon him.

“You expressed a desire to return home, shall I send you now?”

Aichlan gave the child a confused stare, unsure of why he would choose such a word. “Home? Yeah kid, sure I wanna go home…”